Goodbye, Kim Fowley

Back in September 1976, an issue of NME confirmed an upcoming tour of ten British shows for five Californian teenage girls heralded as ‘America’s latest punk-rock sensation’. The first date, which would also be their British debut, was scheduled to take place on the 23rd of the month at the Glasgow Apollo.

Punk rock, I should mention was a bit of a fluid term at this point and The Runaways, despite being covered in Sniffin’ Glue and playing CBGBs, were, in reality, more of a glam rock/heavy metal hybrid, a fact that didn’t stop many of the leading lights of British punk, including Johnny Rotten, making their way to their Roundhouse set and party later on in the same tour.

At this point for teenagers, The Runaways appeared almost impossibly glamorous and the Apollo crowd for their show on the night apparently largely consisted of hordes of overexcited male teenage Heavy Metal fans.

Afterwards, according to Mick Farren in his NME review, many of these fans crowded outside hoping for another glimpse of the band as they left the venue. Supposedly fire hoses had to be turned on some of the mob eventually in order to let the girls get into their waiting cars. The Runaways were also pestered all night long in their hotel by a scattering of young fans waiting outside.

Did fans really have to be hosed down?

Maybe they did but it does sound to me like the kind of the thing that their manager at the time, Kim Fowley, might have made up in order to further hype the band. Maybe some reader of this blog was there that night and can confirm or deny the story.

Co-composed by Joan Jett and Kim Fowley, this is Cherry Bomb:

Pop genius/svengali Kim Fowley is still best known for his association with The Runaways, although over the years he also collaborated with a slew of other acts. He co-wrote for Alice Cooper and KISS and had some kind of involvement with everyone from Slade (when they were known as The N’Betweens) to Frank Zappa, as well as being a recording artist in his own right.

I can’t claim to have been at that Runaways concert – I wish I had but don’t think I’d heard them yet then although I soon would. Almost twenty years later, though, I did manage to see Kim himself play at the 13th Note in Glasgow, where he was accompanied by various BMX Bandits and, at different points, many members of the audience.

A very mad, entirely unpredictable night that was definitely fantastic fun.

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Hi there, I was at that Runaways concert at the Glasgow Apollo, and witnessed what happened afterwards. It’s probably a bit unfair to say it was and audience of male heavy metal fans as punk hadn’t arrived in Glasgow yet and long hair and denim was rife. I probably looked like a heavy metal fan in 1976, but then so did just about everyone of a certain age. As for the show, I can stil vividly remember it. At that point I was listening to lots of David Bowie and Alice Cooper, and had recently discovered Dr Feelgood and Eddie and the Hot Rods. I’d never seen anything like the Runaways, and like lots of others I went up the lane to the stage door to hopefully get a close-up glimpse of them as they left – a common occurrence at the Apollo in those days. What then happened was the bouncers over-reacted, grabbed a couple of blokes, pulled them into the building where they beat them up, then threw them back out. This resulted in a lengthy fight – that I just watched – which resulted in the rented cars being jumped upon and kicked to bits. More cars were ordered and the police came. I don’t remember hoses being used, though now that I think on it I do seem to remember water being thrown at us from a high window. At least I hope it was water. When the band finally came out one of the boys who had been done over was lying on the road and had to be lifted out of the way of the cars. Cherie Currie mistakenly wrote in Neon Angel that he had been hit by the car. Lita Ford has since said that she has very fond memories of that gig. The next day I went round to Glasgow’s Albany Hotel which was the usual place for bands to stay back then. When I arrived a group of boys were just leaving. They had camped outside the hotel overnight – though I don’t believe they made a nuisance of themselves – and just before I arrived the Runaways had come down and signed autographs. I hung about on my own and got to meet all of them except Lita Ford as Jackie Fox and Cherie Currie chatted to me and Lita got into a car on her own and was driven away before I got a chance to speak to her. If Cherie Currie was happy to chat with me then I wasn’t going to walk away from her, though Jackie Fox did most of the talking and was really nice. Sandy West didn’t say too much but was really friendly, smiling and waving at me out the back of her car as it drove away. Joan Jett, surpisingly, appeared really shy. Anyway, I hope this was of some interest to you. I never got to see Kim Fowley, and I’m sad he’s gone. Cheers, Paul